


A Fresh Page

by fiveroundsrapid



Category: Holby City
Genre: F/F, Fix-It, Memory Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:02:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22353787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiveroundsrapid/pseuds/fiveroundsrapid
Summary: Berenice waits in a book signing queue to get her copy of Serena Campbell's book signed. Little does she know the author means more to her than she remembers.Aka Bernie meets Serena again after Mogadishu left her with amnesia. Aka blame Kayryn.
Relationships: Serena Campbell/Bernie Wolfe
Comments: 23
Kudos: 121





	A Fresh Page

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kayryn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayryn/gifts).



She's thinking she should just leave. But she's only a few people away from being at the front of the queue and persuades herself that she is quite capable of talking to a beautiful woman she admires for a few seconds at least. Berenice holds the book close to her chest. Unlike some of the others waiting for theirs to be signed, hers is worn and dogearred. Loved.

Another peak through the gaps between shoulders in front. The author, stationed at a desk with a girl in hand was... stunning. Effortlessly so. Bernie watched, cheeks tinged with pink, as she gave another reader a blazing grin before signing the book. Berenice bit her lip and looked away. It was only by chance she was even here, in Paris.

She's been on the road for months. Working when she can, saving up enough to move onto the next place and the place after. She'd seen the poster in the small bookshop window last week, coming back from a museum. Serena Campbell, signing her memoir slash self help book. Bernie remembers finding her copy on a train. Just left. She'd read it through cover to cover by the time she'd reached her destination and kept it close ever since.

It was bizarre how much she empathise with this woman she'd never met. But Berenice had never met anyone, not really. She had woken up a year ago in a hospital in Africa with no memory. She still had nothing concrete. No faces. No places. Just scars of a former life. This book was simply about a woman who had lost much, had loved much and was finding herself again after fifty. Berenice didn't know if she had ever loved much... but the other two rang true.

Berenice stepped forwards as the queue dwindled down. Serena was taking her time with everyone. She let out a tinkling laugh. It sounded like music. Like a favourite song. Berenice shifted from foot to foot, a bundle of nerves. Her people skills weren't great, and she did want Serena to like her. TShehe bookshop was crowded, and so Berenice retreated slightly, behind her fringe, looking downwards. 

She was sensitive now, to crowds, and to beautiful women. Serena Campbell was definitely that. She was starting to be grateful her copy had never had any authors photos, otherwise, she'd barely have gathered the courage to come in the first place. Suddenly, the body before her moved away, and she was at the front.

Serena Campbell didn't look up as Berenice thrust out her copy towards her.

"Ah, well-loved I see. I hope that's a compliment." Serena smiled down at the book before opening up the cover. "Who can I make this out to-?"

"Berenice." She replied, clearing her throat afterwards. Serena looked up at her, causing her to turn crimson. She was looking right at her. She had beautiful eyes. "Just, er... just that. And thank you, for the book. I loved you. It. The book. You, in the book."

  
The blonde cringed, sure that she was fully making the author, Serena Campbell, uncomfortable, by the look on her face. She was looking at Berenice like she had two heads. White as a sheet. Bernie cursed herself for tumbling over the words and had it in her mind to flee.

But she was still waiting for her book and the book had been so wonderful for her that she had to keep talking, if only to fill the silence between them. She'd probably best explain herself at least.

"I- er, I had a head injury. Memory loss. Nothing except remembering stupid things. Pastries I liked or bits of French and Farsi. How to fix an alternator, if you believe it. Luckily I managed to remember my name otherwise I'd be in real trouble. But, ah... only my first name. So, yes, just put to Berenice. I just... your book meant a lot. Starting again over fifty, figuring out who you are. I know it's not exactly tailored to amnesia but your words were a great comfort."

The woman opposite, pen still poised on the fresh white page, let out a puff of air and seemed to sag. All of a sudden, she was tearing up. Berenice blanched, really not okay with tears and crying. She started again; "I can just go-" She turned to leave, but then a hand shot out to grab her wrist. Serena's hand.

Bernie looked down, dumbly, then back up the woman who was still weeping silently, but then smiling.

"Bernie."


End file.
